1. To be part of something greater than ourselves. Here’s how others have explained it.

“To be a man is to feel that one’s own stone contributes to building the edifice of the world.” (Antoine de Saint Erupery, 1900~1944)

“We are not here to merely make a living. We are here to enrich the world, and we impoverish ourselves if we forget this errand.”
(Woodrow T. Wilson, 1856~1924)

“The purpose of life is not to be happy – but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you have lived at all.” (Leo Rosten, 1908~1997)

“There is no greater calling than to serve your fellow men. There is no greater contribution than to help the weak. There is no greater satisfaction than to have done it well.” (Walter Reuther,1907~1970)

2. We do it for ourselves. Mohandas Gandhi (1869~1948) was laboriously serving the people of a remote village when he was asked why he was doing it.

“Are you doing it for humanitarian reasons?” he was asked.

“Not at all,” Gandhi answered, “I am here to serve no one else than myself, to find my own self-realization through the service of these village folk.”

Every time we help another, we help ourselves, for when we dig another out of their troubles, we find a place to bury our own. Continue reading →